Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Paul Langlois: Toronto Mike'd #1292

Episode Date: July 17, 2023

In this 1292nd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Paul Langlois about his new band, The Tragically Hip and so much more before Paul plays live in the TMDS studio. Toronto Mike'd is proudly b...rought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, The Moment Lab, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to episode 1292 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. RecycleMyElectronics.ca.
Starting point is 00:00:55 Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. Getting hip to the hip. An evening for the Downey Wenjack Fund. The Moment Lab. Brand marketing and strategy. PR, advertising and production. You need The Moment Lab and Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his Toronto Mike debut, is Paul Langlois. Welcome, Paul. Thanks a lot for having me, Mike.
Starting point is 00:01:31 Did you come straight from breakfast television? We just did, yes. We pulled it off. We did one song and a short little interview, and I think we pulled it off. I haven't got any angry texts from family or anything. So is that like, do you remember,
Starting point is 00:01:48 is that Sid Sixero? I'm just curious. Is Liza Fromer there this week? Like, do you remember who was chatting you up on breakfast? Liza and Devo. Oh, Devo.
Starting point is 00:01:56 Okay, so maybe Sid got the week off or whatever. Liza, of course, is like a throwback. She was the second ever like co-host after Ann Romer and then Dina replaceder and then Dina replaced her and then Dina left. And now
Starting point is 00:02:08 Liza's filling in. I think I just want to put an endorsement out there. Liza should be the full-time co-host on Breakfast Television. I'm just throwing it out there. I'm with you on that. We used to watch Liza years and years ago. My wife reminded me of that because as soon as she heard her name, she's
Starting point is 00:02:24 like, oh, we used to watch her all the time and then once I saw her in person this morning I was like that's right and she looks great better than even she used to she's like a fine wine you're a fan of wine right
Starting point is 00:02:39 like a fine wine lies a fromer's aging yes absolutely and you know wine wine's all right. Wine's all right. Beer's better. I'm going to crack this beer if it's okay. So, yeah. So, I'm going to.
Starting point is 00:02:51 So, this is a beer that sponsors you. Great Lakes Brewery. Fantastic brewery. You've got yourself a longer. On the mic. You have to lift it up and put it right in front of that mic. I know. You have a lot of work here to do.
Starting point is 00:03:01 Okay. This is Paul. Okay. So, enjoy your Great Lakes. And that second crack, I want to let everybody know, we're not alone in this room, Paul and I. And Paul, long time coming. I was going to say long time running.
Starting point is 00:03:12 Big fan of yours. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Oh, thanks a lot. Nice to meet you. But let's shout out the other people in the room. One is actually on a microphone here. Introduce Greg Ball for everybody. How do you know Greg?
Starting point is 00:03:24 Well, I've known Greg for years and years. on a microphone here uh introduce greg ball for everybody uh how do you know greg well uh i know i've known greg for years and years um kingston and um you know we're buddies but also musical uh partners of sort and um i produced i think three of uh greg's records uh with his band and um we have a another side outfit called the Campfire Lawyers Club. And this is Greg Ball from St. Mary's, Ontario. That's the home of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Oh, it certainly is. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:03:53 Hi there. Greg, nice to meet you. Happy you're here. I hope you enjoy your fresh craft beer from Great Lakes. I'll even send you guys home with some Great Lakes beer as well. Travelers. Travelers. Appreciate it.
Starting point is 00:04:04 So, Greg, did you play on Breakfast Television this morning? I certainly did. It was a little bit nerve-wracking because Jake was watching me. Oh, there's another person in this room? Okay, we're going to get to Jake. Jake's already in FOTM, so everybody knows the great Jake Gould. Now, what song did you guys play this morning? We played It Matters to Me, which is the first song on
Starting point is 00:04:25 my newest record. So that's your new single, Paul. Yep. And the album's called Guess What? and it came out on Friday. I personally witnessed eight people buy it yesterday. So, you know, it's a start.
Starting point is 00:04:42 Well, listen, you've raised the bar. You've got a big bar to reach there. We're going to talk about all of this but uh if you played it matters to me on breakfast television here i'm just now because i just found out that greg's here and he's got a guitar if you play will you play a song in this episode of toronto mic we will play a song yeah we're unless you want different uh we know i want a song We have a song in mind that's on the record, and it's called I Feel Real Yo. Okay, so that's where I was going with that.
Starting point is 00:05:10 I'm happy to, while we chat about the new album, I got to hear more details about who's in the Paul Langlois band. I have It Matters to Me loaded up. I was not going to play It Matters to Me if you guys were going to play It Matters to Me, because that's kind of dumb. So I was just trying to fish to find out what song you might play on this program. So you're not going to play It matters to me if you guys were going to play it matters to me because that's kind of dumb so i was just trying to fish to find out what song you might play on this program so you're not going to play it matters to me no no we'd like to play i feel really old because it's
Starting point is 00:05:32 you know it's a it's more emotional kind of song okay do you mind if i play a little of it matters to me the new single and then i want to find out about the the new work you're doing paul and then i want to find out how it compares to the old work. And I might have a couple of questions about the old work. Are you guys ready to kick out It Matters to Me here? Yes, absolutely. Are you ready, Greg? Is It Matters to Me or I Feel Real You?
Starting point is 00:05:55 No, you're not playing now. I'm going to play this. I'm ready for Mike to kick it out. I'm new at this. Greg, by the way, we're going to kick this out. But real quick, what is the name of your band that Paul produced Greg it was just Greg Ball
Starting point is 00:06:09 it was somebody told us that it was a singer songwriter sort of album and I had to go with it I wanted to name the band but none of my ideas were very good but how do you score a member of the Tragically Hip as your producer like to me this is
Starting point is 00:06:24 top shelf man well we met ideas were very good. But how do you score like a member of the tragically hip as your producer? Like to me, this is a, this is top shelf, man. Uh, well, we met, uh, over the bar.
Starting point is 00:06:30 I'm a, I'm a bartender and he was in there just having one quick one, quick pint, just a quick pint. Uh, and actually, uh, we ended up playing together because,
Starting point is 00:06:41 a friend of ours, uh, Jim Tidman asked me to play in the Campfire Liars Club. We kind of met on stage. Sort of met on stage. Okay. And then you got Paul to produce your Greg Ball album. That's cool.
Starting point is 00:06:55 I sort of had to beg a little bit. Just a little tiny bit. And straight up, Paul, is he good? He's very good. Very prolific songwriter and um i was skeptical when he gave me uh it was a cassette actually um and i just thought uh i don't know if i want to listen to this and as soon as i heard it it was like okay this guy's really good and and we had a beautiful thing there for a while.
Starting point is 00:07:25 And now he's in my band. He's in the Paul Langlois band. Okay, there's the first answer. Okay, because I want to find out everybody in this band. So if anybody passes you a, was it like a CD? What did he pass you? A link? Like, what did he pass today?
Starting point is 00:07:38 Did you really pass it? Well, maybe it wasn't a cassette. It was a CD. Yeah, it was a CD. I'd be worried no one could play the cassette. Like, here's my music here. It's like, what year is this? And he's showing a cassette here. Yeah, it was a CD. I'd be worried no one could play the cassette. Like, here's my music here. It's like, what year is this? And he's showing a cassette here.
Starting point is 00:07:48 Yeah, that's right. And a cassette player, which is impressive. I thought that was an iPhone. I had to explain this the other day. The reason I have the tapes and everything, it's not that I'm listening to tapes, but I produced the Humble and Fred show. And Fred from Humble and Fred had a bunch of tapes in his attic.
Starting point is 00:08:04 And he said, hey, can you digitize these? These might be old Humble and Fred shows. And I produced the show. And Fred from Humble and Fred had a bunch of tapes in his attic. And he said, hey, can you digitize these? These might be old Humble and Fred shows. And I produced the show, so of course I'm happy to digitize it and have old Humble and Fred shows. And then I'm going through the tapes to digitize them into MP3s. And it's not Humble and Fred. It's actually more like Scott Turner,
Starting point is 00:08:20 May Potts, and Fred. These are all recordings from the 18 months that Fred was with another radio station in the early 90s. Not as fruitful as we hope, but still fun to hear. Okay, without further ado, you threw it to me We thought I was fine, I thought I was free Other factors came in, and some just went out I thought of you here, I thought of you here I thought of the doubt
Starting point is 00:09:06 It takes time to see It takes time to know It takes will to lead It takes strength to show It takes will to lead. It takes strength to show. It takes all your time to know where to go. It takes all you've got to know where to go. I'm feeling like I'm falling into sacrifice.
Starting point is 00:09:47 Been losing all my faith And all I can decide I'm hoping that I'm getting it Like I said It matters to me It matters to no It matters to know It matters to me Yeah Sounds great in the cans, man.
Starting point is 00:10:14 Awesome. Yeah, I like it. I'm happy with this record. Actually, almost a little bit proud of it. That's okay. You're allowed to be proud of it. Why do you hesitate there? Is that because you're Canadian? You're almost ashamed of the pride you feel in this art you created.
Starting point is 00:10:32 No, not ashamed, but I didn't really want to do it. And I sort of really have to coax a song out of myself. I sort of really have to coax a song out of myself. And I kind of can't believe I did it. And I wouldn't have been able to do it with the guys in the band and their enthusiasm. And just kind of, you know, I'm just very happy that this has happened. Well, let's name check them right now. Run down the members of the Paul Langlois band.
Starting point is 00:11:05 Okay, well, there's Greg Ball here and he plays guitar and sings beautiful backups. We got Joe Karskalen on guitar. He's also in the Camp Fire Lars Club. Good buddy. And he's kind of playing guitar and lead guitar. Matt
Starting point is 00:11:21 Mulvihill is on bass. I was just noticing his nice work on this song, Matters to Me another buddy and then Bill Anglin on the drums who is a giant and a giant killer
Starting point is 00:11:35 Who are your influences in this song? I'll tell you who I hear a little bit of here I hope you take this as a compliment as intended as, but I hear a little Neil Young influence in this jam. Yeah, maybe. I mean, I've never...
Starting point is 00:11:50 I love Neil Young. I've never felt like he was a big influence, but of course... Maybe I just hear Neil in everything. Well, yeah, he's an influence
Starting point is 00:12:00 on everything and everybody. So I take it as a total compliment. And, you know, I just sort of write what comes out. And the band sounds like we sound. You know, it's not like we really discuss much. We just kind of play the songs. Okay.
Starting point is 00:12:21 There it goes. That's the album again. The album's called Guess What? Also a cut in the album. Also the final cut in the album. I listened to the album. That's the album again. The album's called Guess What? Also a cut in the album. Also the final cut in the album. I listened to the album, loved it very much. And this is your lead single, and you're going to play another jam later,
Starting point is 00:12:32 which is awesome. But this is what? This is your third, Paul, this is your third album, like outside the Tragically Hip. Do I have that right? It is, yeah. I made a couple,
Starting point is 00:12:40 like maybe one in 2010 and one in 2013. The first one was was called fix this head and it was just me uh i played everything and it was a lonely experience just me and the engineer and uh solitary experience but i got that out didn't tour it and then another record with a band uh that rob baker was in uh kindly I didn't pay him a cent even though he wanted ten grand and he real time yeah he played and we actually did it to her we did 28 shows and 35 days across the country but the country it was in the winter of 2013 and Greg ball and his band opened up and we were on a bus but the country froze it was in
Starting point is 00:13:27 december and so all the gigs were like minus 40 wow so getting people out was a bit challenging so yeah this is my third one and i never thought i would do another but it's really because of of the band guys that um i was able to get myself up to do it so how okay so i do uh let the fotms fotm by the way paul means friend of toronto mike you paul i'm excited to announce paul you're now an fotm friend excellent jake's been in the club for a while now you're in the exclusive club okay i'm not surprised jake's been in the club and I appreciate being in the club. It was a long negotiation to get Jake in the club. Please don't think it was easy. Well, I know, yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:09 He's a bit of a tough negotiator. On that note, did you ever watch Canadian Idol? Is this a program you would tune in? I totally did and I was totally happy and proud that Jake became a celebrity.
Starting point is 00:14:27 And I thought he was very good on the show. I really honestly did. So there were four judges on that show. And then there was the host, Ben Mulrooney, who's become a bud this summer, actually. And then there was John Doerr was doing a thing. But of all of them, the only one that has kind of eluded me is, and I should probably talk to Jake about this later, but Zach Werner. I don't know. Zach is kind of, I don a, and I should probably talk to Jake about this later, but Zach Werner, I don't know. Zach is a kind of a,
Starting point is 00:14:46 I don't know where he's at. I think he might be in Newfoundland, but all the other, all the other, you know, judges have dropped by, but he's eluding me too. You're trying to,
Starting point is 00:14:57 well, he owes me money. I thought so. You know, I heard that he owes you money. Okay. So I have questions from FOTMs. I'm going to get here,
Starting point is 00:15:05 but I'm, so when you started, I'm just curious about the uh the first two albums you put out you know without the hip earlier like during the the hips run there i did read somewhere i want you to maybe speak to this but like members of the hip doing things outside the tragically hip was this like something that was discussed or was it frowned upon like because all of a sudden i it seems like with coke machine glow which was gordon downey's uh first solo album like that's oh one so you're well into your run we'll get to that but uh like was that like the sign of like oh we can do things you know parallel to the band outside the band you know um it was but not for like about a year after when he first did that honestly we were all like why i mean right you got us over here hello guard um and you know we had done well and uh he was looking to stretch out and it took a little while I think for everyone to get
Starting point is 00:16:05 used to it and try and not take offense to it because once we all heard the record and I actually sang on it and it was a kind gesture on his part he asked me to sing on it backups on a song or two and
Starting point is 00:16:21 you know once we sort of got used to the idea it was like yeah well i guess this is okay we've been together a long time and it's okay to do your own thing and that sort of inspired i think robbie was maybe first with strippers union right and then um i did a solo thing and everyone just kind of got up to their own thing and we all realized that it was okay but no it was never discussed gorgeous went ahead and did it and we all kind of reacted in our own private way so naturally i had i actually had so i was speaking of jim cuddy and jim cuddy does this thing where it's like blue rodeo yeah here's blue rodeo here's blue rodeo here's the jim cuddy band and they kind of like six months on six
Starting point is 00:17:03 months off it's some kind of weird system he's got going, but it seems to work for him, but I'm always curious, is there any music outside the hip that was like, created during the run of the hip that you thought, oh, maybe that should have been a Tragically Hip song? Or maybe that could have been a Tragically Hip song? Well, Gord said to me on my, you know, we didn't really comment too heavily, I mean, I told Gord I really like Coke Machine Glow and there was a book that came with it.
Starting point is 00:17:30 A book of poetry. And I love that. So I was quite complimentary. No one really mentioned anything about my record except Gord one day when for some reason he had just heard Fix This Head, which is a title track of
Starting point is 00:17:46 my first record he's like that should have been a hip song and i was like there you go well i kind of threw it by you guys like in a funny not with lyrics because you write the lyrics but you know i threw the music by you guys and no one really seemed to excited no one seemed excited so it's like okay screw that that's mine interesting i'm always curious about you know i've never been in a band so uh you know i'm always curious about the inner inner politics in a band it's uh fascinating to me yeah we were always you know very nice to each other and um so it was never like, oh, that idea sucks. You suck. We were never like that.
Starting point is 00:18:33 It was always just if, like the music for Fix This Head, it just didn't catch on. So no one brings it up again. And everyone, we would always, if any individual really liked a jam idea from the day before you'd bring it up and so that's how things just kind of floated to the top uh was by the enthusiasm of one or two guys and then the ones that weren't uh right and not uh great maybe um no one ever brought them up again so that's how we stayed together. I will tell you, I've had many, many artists on this program, musicians, who have
Starting point is 00:19:09 shared a stage of the Tragically Hip. And because I'm such a big Tragically Hip fan, I'm a big THE Tragically Hip fan, Jake. I don't want to screw that up there. Do you care, Paul, if it's THE Tragically Hip, or if I say I'm a big Tragically Hip fan? It doesn't matter to me, no. It doesn't matter to me.
Starting point is 00:19:22 I prefer the THE. Okay. Or the THE. Because, you know know it's awkward in some sentences okay so i'm a big the tragically hip fan uh with with uh without a doubt and every time i talk to artists who have shared a stage with you i'll ask like what was it like what were the hip like to you and to a t every musician i ask that question to talk about what sweethearts you at. You're very good to your opening bands, the bands you share a festival stage with or whatnot, like very kind to these.
Starting point is 00:19:49 And I always wonder, like I wonder at the time when the guys were just probably genuinely good human beings, right. Um, when they're being nice to people, uh, they're sharing a stage with,
Starting point is 00:19:58 like if they realize maybe 20, 20 years later, these guys are going to be in someone's basement, uh, speaking on a mic that people are going to hear him, you know, critique how we treated them. Yeah, they were dinks.
Starting point is 00:20:10 It's going to come out 20 years later on some guy's podcast, whatever that is. It was very important to us to be kind. A lot of, you know, most of the bands that opened for us, there was a reason for it. It's because we wanted them to um so we would offer them the gig and uh everyone was very kind the only little untruth is you know if you if you talk to any of those guys like robbie or gordon singler or whatever you know yeah i watch them every night
Starting point is 00:20:40 and it's like no i went outside stage every night because i would sort of detour for a smoke but i watched every band every night and gore down he really couldn't because he can't be seen side stage before he goes on so it's just like but anyway yeah um that was one of the best things uh about the whole experience is that we got to bring bands. And you know who opened for us the most? Can I get... The most shows? The Watchmen? No, but...
Starting point is 00:21:13 Sam Roberts? Sam Roberts. And they told me the last time we played with them was their 93rd time opening for us. It was an outdoor show in Montreal. Wow. I was like, seriously? Anyway, 93 times.
Starting point is 00:21:29 See, I got on my second guess because I have seen Sam Roberts over there many, many times. You know, I try to keep up with you guys. But Stephen Dame, there's a name you know, right? Stephen Dame. This is not the first time
Starting point is 00:21:40 you're hearing the name Stephen Dame. He writes... I do, yeah. So you mentioned Sam Roberts. He's a smart guy yeah after the hip ended is the hip okay if i miss tragically like a hip's great okay probably better than the tragic and i just want to say i added the because i'm respectful i see steven only wrote after hip ended okay it's after the hip ended paul gifted one of his most iconic to us hip nerds anyways guitars
Starting point is 00:22:06 to sam roberts sam would often tell the story before using it on stage as he did at the cne band shell in 2017 did paul ever gift any other guitars or offer any advice to any other canadian Canadian rockers? That's a great question. Yeah, I don't think I ever gifted any other guitars. If I ever gave advice to any budding Canadian rockers, I don't remember.
Starting point is 00:22:40 I would have said, you're better out of it. Don't do it. But no, I don't remember i would have said you're better out of it you know don't don't do it um but no i don't think uh yeah you know i mean actually the only advice i think i consistently gave was you have to get along you have to get lucky that it's the right people and if it's the right people then you just need to work on you know making decisions together because that's the toughest part of it is is you have to and especially scheduling and everyone wants a life and all that kind of stuff so i know uh we just got very lucky that we were we stayed on the same
Starting point is 00:23:16 page through kids and tours and recording and just all that um we were able to figure out gradually and we stay great friends. So that's our biggest achievement. Well, let me echo the sentiments of Andrew who wrote in when I said Paul's making his Toronto Mike debut. Andrew wrote in and said, just tell him thanks from all of us. I'm going to echo that sentiment.
Starting point is 00:23:40 How many summers, right, Greg? Like the soundtrack of our summers are the oh 100 and like tons of shows i went to a bunch of shows i was always a mess but i uh i remember most of them well if you know what if you remember them you weren't there that's what i say if you can remember those shows you weren't really there that is deep i think i stole that line about the 60s but that's, he's maybe lying, but it's the reason why he loves backup singing so much is he says that he used to watch me.
Starting point is 00:24:13 That is, and rhythm guitar. And that's why I moved to Kingston. I'm sort of stalking you. I thought it was for the Headstones. No. No. I know if they're listening I love you guys too but
Starting point is 00:24:27 oh man so many places I want to go here I know we don't have forever so I'm going to cook with gas here Hamilton Mike writes in with his new album to promote I was hoping FOTMJ Gold would get Paul on your show so that's Hamilton Mike thanks Hamilton because FOTMJ Gold made
Starting point is 00:24:44 it happen on my birthday he told me Paul was coming over it was on my birthday I go that's Hamilton Mike. Thanks Hamilton. Cause FOTMJ gold made it happen. Thank on my birthday. He told me Paul was coming over. It was on my birthday. I go, that's a nice birthday gift. Okay. Uh,
Starting point is 00:24:52 love Paul's first solo albums. And I'm eagerly anticipating this one. Just a reminder to Hamilton Mike, it's called guess what? And it's available like now, right now. Okay. Go get it. Go get it.
Starting point is 00:25:03 And I have a, another cut I might play here in a minute and we're going to get some live music. Okay. Go get it. Go get it. And I have another cut I might play here in a minute and we're going to get some live music. Okay. To finish Hamilton Mike's great question, I say love his solo albums. I'm eagerly anticipating this one. Please let him know he's one of my all-time favorite
Starting point is 00:25:18 rhythm guitar players and a major influence on my style. So Hamilton Mike, another guy, one of many people in this universe influenced by your style, Paul. Well, thanks, Hamilton Mike. I really appreciate it. You know, it's an honor. I think Dave Bedini said in his book that I look like I should be bagging groceries and that the parts I play are so simple that I actually may have inspired more musicians
Starting point is 00:25:45 than anyone else because they look up and say, well, I could do that, which is a nice backhand compliment. Thanks, Dave. Love me some. Real Static's another band I've seen open for the hip. Okay, so off the top of your head, I know you don't have metrics in front of you,
Starting point is 00:26:02 but if you had to guess, who would you guess are the five bands who opened for the hip? Just off the top of your head, I know you don't have metrics in front of you, but if you had to guess, who would you guess are the five bands who opened for the... If you're just off the top of your head, obviously Sam Roberts, but you just... What are, to round out the five, five bands that have opened for the hip
Starting point is 00:26:14 the most often during the Tragically Hips run? Well... Won't hold you to it if you're wrong. It's funny with the... I call them the odds, but I think it's just odds. They opened for us a lot. Now I'm just off the top of my head.
Starting point is 00:26:27 I wouldn't be able to sort of rank. The Rayo Statics, of course. Sons of Freedom were just a great band that we were really fans of. And then for a more modern touch, Rural Alberta Advantage. I don't like saying rural, so I call them R-A-A. But they opened a wing of a tour, a bunch of dates, and we really liked them. And then they just played Mariposa,
Starting point is 00:26:55 as Greg and I and the Paul Langlois band did last weekend. Amazing. Yeah, and really good band. So anyway, but there was so many by Divine Right that Feist was the guitar player in and that's how we know Leslie so just there's a pile
Starting point is 00:27:13 of bands I'm sorry if I didn't mention you by Divine Right love it now Feist you mentioned so Decan wrote in any plans I gotta know the answer to this any plans to tour as the tragically hip with guest vocalists like leslie feist like you did at the junos a few years back well the junos was a one-off and the only reason we said yes is because jake or someone involved with jake had the idea of feist because
Starting point is 00:27:43 we were all against it no matter what who they suggested and then all of a sudden it's like how about leslie feist and it was on a zoom call and we were all like okay wow that doesn't sound like a bad idea and and so that was the only reason just because of her and we did another thing with william prince Buffy St. Marie's 80th birthday. Just a one-off, very tricky song of his, and we're all fans of his. So we have done it twice as a one-off, and we're also agreed that we'll never say never,
Starting point is 00:28:19 but no. No, you know, we're all kind of... Never say never, but you will say no. We're all kind of like just no, no, you know, we're all kind of never, but you will say no. We're all kind of like, just know until something, some idea comes up. That's a good one. And we haven't even jammed instrumentally. Like we're still, we've found each other again. So we talk a lot, obviously with Jake too. And you know, regular zoom calls,
Starting point is 00:28:43 we've got a studio, we we got a bunch of stuff going on we're digging up old recordings that people haven't heard and putting out you know releases and that's enough for us but we'll never say never that's what we've just agreed to
Starting point is 00:28:59 agree on that but I don't see it personally okay Kevin Bailey wrote in he's got an idea agree on that. But I don't see it personally. Okay, Kevin Bailey wrote in. He's got an idea. And I dropped this guy's name earlier just coincidentally. But Kevin Bailey, and I'm agreeing with Kevin on this one.
Starting point is 00:29:16 He says, the world needs a tragically hip Neil Young collaboration. Maybe Neil and the guys. I agree. Look, I got Greg on board. Jake's making a phone call right now. I think he's going to close the deal. Can I open? Yes, you can. He'd be the perfect
Starting point is 00:29:33 opener. But Neil's not going to do it. Let's say he did do it. He said yes. We're just spitballing here. Again, none of this is binding. Don't worry. No lawyers involved here. But if Neil agreed, even if it was a one-off, I don't know, some show, I don't know,
Starting point is 00:29:50 Downsview Park or something, what do I know? But Neil Young, to raise money for some great charity or something, Neil Young and the surviving members of the Tragically Hip, would you be down? Yeah, like if Neil is singing and we're playing behind him? Yeah, that's exactly what I'm thinking. Well, of course. Of course we'd say yes.
Starting point is 00:30:07 Shake it on it, buddy. We can do this. Of course we'd say yes to that. A TMLX 13 maybe at Great Lakes, I think, will get this going. Yeah, but again, we're not going to get a hold of Neil. And we're not going to push this. He's in the Kawarthas right now. I feel like you can bump into him in a restaurant
Starting point is 00:30:25 in Peterborough or something. Yep. Of course, we all love him, but we're not the kind of guys that are going to pick this. It would be Jake's job to get over him. That's what Jake, that's his role, and I'm glad he's back doing that.
Starting point is 00:30:36 Can I open Jake? Oh, Jake's no fool. He's nodding yes. He's nodding yes, bud. Jamie Dew. Okay, I'm glad Jamie Dew sent in a question because I'm going to talk about something he's up to right now. Jamie Dew writes,
Starting point is 00:30:50 the 14th of July was a big day. You released, Paul, you released the new album, which we've been talking about. Guess what is the new album? And Phantom Power turned 25 years old. What do you remember, Paul, about those Phantom Power turned 25 years old. What do you remember, Paul, about those Phantom Power sessions and how do you feel the album stands
Starting point is 00:31:08 after 25 years? Well, I'll answer that question, but first off, I'll say I didn't know that it was going to be the, was it the 25th anniversary? According to Jamie Doo, I haven't done the math. On Phantom Power on the day of my solo release.
Starting point is 00:31:26 That's a coincidence. Well, it's just like Gord Sinclair is hogging the internet with his solo record. And it's just like my solo record comes out and it's like, oh, there's another post from Gord. And he's not even on social media. But anyway, then I started to think of Phantom Power being on the same day. Oh, well that helps me, right?
Starting point is 00:31:47 Cause I was in the band and, and you were an instrumental member of that band. Absolutely. Yeah. You know, and we recorded that in bath with Steve Berlin from Los Lobos, who is one of the smarter people I've ever met. And one of the most hard to please as far as what you're doing you know as a producer
Starting point is 00:32:08 and so only good memories about that I think we were really hitting our stride to use a I think Vapor Trails is on Phantom Power hitting our stride that's a lyric in vapor trails yes i think we were all just kind of confident and we had the songs um in there that that we needed to have you know because we needed to just keep getting better and phantom power to me is almost where we peaked. Wow. Okay. And Steve Berlin here. Listeners of this program will know this song. Jake doesn't have headphones on, so he doesn't hear it, but Jake would know this song.
Starting point is 00:32:53 But this was forever. It's called Do the Murray. It's Steve Berlin. Let Mark Hebbshire use it for the opening theme to Hebbsy on Sports. So whenever somebody mentions Steve Berlin, I'm obligated to play a little Do the Murray. That is awesome. I love it.
Starting point is 00:33:07 Love it, love it. Okay, so I mentioned Jamie Dew. Jamie Dew, I'm now looking back at this poster. I want to tell everybody, because I'm certain many Tragically Hip fans are listening to us right now, and this is a chance for me to say a couple of things. One is that TMLX13,
Starting point is 00:33:24 which is my event, Jake, I hope to see you there, is August 31st, 6 to 9 p.m. at Great Lakes Brewery in Southern Etobicoke, and everybody should come because Palma Pasta is going to feed them. That's delicious, authentic Italian food. Everyone gets free food from Palma Pasta,
Starting point is 00:33:38 a free drink from Great Lakes. It's going to be a great, great, great night. The very next day, which is September 1st, 2023, is Getting Hip to the Hip, an evening for the Downey Wenjack Fund, and it's 7.30 at the Rec Room. I urge everyone listening to go to gettinghiptothehip.com and use the promo code FOTM10. That's FOTM10. You'll save 10% on tickets. I will be there. We have a Tragically Hip cover band. We have a live recording of Getting Hip to the Hip.
Starting point is 00:34:08 There's prizes. There's so much great stuff going on. So that's where you go. Gettinghiptothehip.com and use the promo code FOTM10. Join me September 1st, the day after TMLX13 at the Rec Room for Getting Hip to the Hip. There you go. Okay. Where did I want to go next? So many did I want to go next? I like it.
Starting point is 00:34:26 So many places I want to go next. I like Jamie. Jamie, too. Can I shout out to him? Oh, my God, yeah. He's listening right now. Yeah, I went to his house and I did a podcast a few years ago. Fully Completely. Is that the name?
Starting point is 00:34:36 Yeah, it was called Fully Completely Podcast. Right. And it was right when Gord was sick already. And I was in town kind of living with him. And so I took a cab up to Jamie's place and did a very interesting interview and really cool. So I'm sure I'll see you again, Jamie, but you're good.
Starting point is 00:35:00 You're good. He's going to love hearing that. Yeah, Jamie D is a good FOTM. So DJ Dream Doctor would like to know what your views are on the very first. I wanted to go back you're good you're good oh he's gonna love hearing that uh yeah jamie d is a good fotm so dj dream doctor would like to know what your views are on the very first i wanted to go back i'm like okay i have a limited time with paul i want to talk about your new music which is fantastic you're gonna play live but i'm like i can't do a we're not gonna you can't do like a a walk through the career of the tragically hip that would be several hours that we don't have here but i thought maybe
Starting point is 00:35:24 i'm gonna play a cut from the first EP and then I'm going to ask this question here. So we're going way back here, Tragically Hip fans. Just brew this in the background. Just a little bit. Okay, with Highway Girl simmering in the background, DJ
Starting point is 00:35:44 Dream Doctor wants to know, he says, why didn't any songs from the first EP make the greatest hits albums? I guess he's talking about your favorites, which keeps selling. I just saw a release yesterday. It hit another milestone in this country.
Starting point is 00:36:00 But DJ Dream Doctor thinks there are songs on the EP that should have been on your favorites, and he wants to know why there weren't any probably complicated answer i mean i do believe that your favorites was kind of voted on by the fans the 35 songs or whatever wouldn't surprise me if highway girl and small town bring down and maybe even Last American Exit came in the top 35 and it wouldn't surprise me if we rejected it because it was a record that we still refer to as our baby
Starting point is 00:36:33 record and we still I mean not so much anymore but we were just kind of we didn't feel like in control of that record like we were for Up to here in road apples which came right after so um it's probably half our fault and half whoever voted their fault too good answer actually and i will say uh there was a huge to me step up from this ep which is great
Starting point is 00:37:04 i listened to it all the time but up to here was like whoa you know i i still remember listening to q107 and they played blow it high dough and it was literally one of those like i went to my buddy joe and i said we're going downtown i got a cd i gotta buy it sam's and it was like i need to own this like i gotta get this thing this is unbelievable so uh big big step up there uh yeah what is that milestone your favorites hits do you know i don't know i got a release yesterday like literally this last week it was like jake knows right 1.5 million units sold for your favorites unbelievable even though you know now is everyone thinks that's how you spell your you Y-E-R. Like, this is bad for our spelling.
Starting point is 00:37:45 Oh, yes. I'm like, Greg, your job is to laugh at my jokes. Yeah, sorry, dude. I got lost in your eyes. I got lost. Oh, my God. I got lost in your eyes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It happened at the same time.
Starting point is 00:37:57 Give us a moment, Paul. We need just a moment here. Okay. Turn off the mics. Wow. Wow. Okay. Tyler Campbell, the VP of sales.
Starting point is 00:38:06 He says, Paul's harmonies were such a big part of the Tragically Hip sound. What was his favorite song to sing on? And then I'll get to, I don't want to get it confusing by asking all the questions at once, so we'll stop right there. Paul, what was your favorite Tragically Hip song to sing on? It's so funny because Gord Sinclair and I would get out of the way of each other So it'd be like
Starting point is 00:38:31 No you go ahead man You go ahead on every song And he'd be like No you go ahead And we didn't discuss harmonies I hate discussing harmonies We didn't go to the piano and be like, ooh. Did you guys talk at all in this band? It sounds like there's no communication
Starting point is 00:38:48 going on. No, we were just nice. So it was like, no, you go ahead. You grab this one. Well, one I was very happy to grab and enjoyed singing was Something On from Phantom Power. We were just talking about Phantom Power. Something On is and I did that after the fact at the warehouse brian adams studio
Starting point is 00:39:08 and after we had recorded it in bath and i was just very happy that i i grabbed a part just out of the air and um then i and after that really enjoyed singing it live we mentioned earlier uh Rodeo. At least we talked about... Cutty. Yeah. So Blue Rodeo, you know, some songs are Cutty songs and some are not. Yeah, some are Greg's.
Starting point is 00:39:35 Right, some are Greg's. And some, let's talk about Sloan for a second. I'm a big Sloan fan, okay? Yeah. There's four lead singers in that band. So this is the second question from Tyler. Good one, Tyler. Okay.
Starting point is 00:39:46 Was there any thought that you or another member of the Tragically Hip would sing lead on a song? No, although once in North Bay in the early days before we even recorded the Baby record, I had a song called Broken Road, which is the first song on my first record. And I did it in soundcheck because someone suggested, someone in the band suggested,
Starting point is 00:40:17 hey, we should do Broken Road. Because I had just written it and maybe I'd played it for one guy or something. So that was the only time. And no, it was never a consideration. I mean, Gord was too good. He wasn't playing guitar at the time, so what's he going to do? So no, never a consideration.
Starting point is 00:40:38 It's sort of like when you find that B track of Nirvana's Marigold and you go, oh, there's Dave Grohl. It's the only song you can find of Nirvana which doesn't have Kurt Cobain on lead vocals. Look what happened next. Well, I know, and you know what? He got the confidence from Kurt Cobain. I mean, that's why he is where he is in this business
Starting point is 00:40:59 is because he was in the band. And that's, you know, there are born front men. There are born singers and lyric writers, that kind of thing. And there are others that learned it because of their experience. Not comparing myself to Dave Grohl. I'm just saying his experience with Nirvana elevated him to where he's at now. And he's also apparently the nicest guy on rock and roll. I've never met him, but.
Starting point is 00:41:29 I hear this too. I thought it'd be Canadian. You are. So you're saying, you're saying, you're saying, yeah, he's basically saying that Dave Grohl is the American version of the Tragically Hitman. Well, this is all I've heard about him is how nice he is. So it's like, good.
Starting point is 00:41:45 You know, he's welcome here anytime. For sure. Rob Pruce. So do you know the name Rob Pruce? I think I do, yeah. So Rob Pruce was the keyboardist for The Spoons. Oh, yeah. During their heyday, basically, their glory days there.
Starting point is 00:42:00 I saw The Spoons a couple times, actually. He would like to know if your new band needs a keyboard player. He'd love to be a member of your band. You know, our guitar player, Joe, kind of hogs the keyboards in the studio. Don't get Greg started. Did I just get you started? No, I'm fine. I digress.
Starting point is 00:42:19 Rob's very good. I'm just going to endorse him. He played a TMLX event. He's excellent. And yeah, he was in Honeymoon Suite for a little bit after the spoons. Was he? Yeah. You know, we're not really keyboard oriented.
Starting point is 00:42:36 And if we were, I would quit. Greg would quit. And I don't think Joe would really want anyone else playing keyboards or piano but him. But thanks for the offer, and sorry about that. Do you mind if I play in the background here? We'll play a little bit of Guess What? This is the title track from the new Paul Langlois band album here. Why would you say no, right? Of course you can.
Starting point is 00:43:01 Why would you say no, right? Of course you can. It's piano. If it can't be used If we don't know already There's an easy way We ain't gonna take it Cause we're steady, steady here,
Starting point is 00:43:26 steady there. And you, you and me, we're always the same way. And we see things together. Every time. Anytime. Everywhere.
Starting point is 00:44:25 We see things together, yeah, yeah, all the time, yeah, you and me. We'll be right back. We're not gonna take it Cause we're steady Steady here, steady there, anywhere Yeah You and me And we're not fine To see that there Everyone Everywhere Everyone Wants to be
Starting point is 00:44:44 Steady here, steady there, anywhere Yeah Everyone wants to be Standing here, standing there, anywhere You and me, we're holidays Same way, we sing things together Every time, yeah Every time, yeah You know it And you and me know it too
Starting point is 00:45:08 It's true, you know We know it too That's what we do We know the truth together We know the truth together Every time Every time. Guess what?
Starting point is 00:45:30 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hot damn, that's great. Thanks a lot. You're belting that out, man. Thanks for playing that whole thing. You know, I was going to bring it down, but I was actually digging it.
Starting point is 00:45:59 Yeah, it sounded great. It sounded great. We have headphones on here, people, and listening in the headphones, that really sounded good. Thanks for playing the whole thing, Mike. No, well, thanks for making that great music. Okay, again, cooking with gas. We don't have unlimited time.
Starting point is 00:46:12 Mike McIntyre. I know Mike McIntyre from the Mimico Arena. He was coaching my son's hockey team a couple years ago. Hello, Mike. Great guest, Mike. Thanks, Mike. A lot of Mikes here. Thanks, Mike.
Starting point is 00:46:24 I'd love to know how much material uh the hip record the yes sorry i make sure i say it right the hip recorded together after man machine poem and if and when they might release this music so mike's asking the fame but the big question we all want to know is is there any unreleased tragically hip the tragically hip music out there that we will eventually hear? Honestly, the only time we did, we did it at Gord Downie's place where he was radiation and chemo at the time
Starting point is 00:47:01 and it was before the last tour. We all got together and we threw out about you know four or five ideas so maybe one each and uh we did record that um but very acoustically like johnny was playing on the couch the couch's arm and we were just playing acoustically on the couch or the couch's arm and we were just playing acoustically uh i haven't listened to it i doubt anyone else has listened to it and they were four or five songs in the very beginning of their development and so um not really no we there's not really anything post but there's a lot of pre you know we record a lot more music than people heard so and that's the
Starting point is 00:47:48 digging process and trying to find the stuff and release special sort of unheard material well that's like Saskadelphia and so James Edgar that was his question are there any hip surprises in the hip vault and that
Starting point is 00:48:03 sounds like you're going through the crates or whatever and digging up stuff right yeah and especially johnny fay um is very very good at it he remembers all of it and or a lot more than we do he lives in toronto which is very handy because you know the tapes are probably closer to Toronto than they are to Kingston. So that's an ongoing process and one that we enjoy. And Johnny does a lot of hard work for that. Now, Paul, I haven't said this yet, but it goes without saying, I think, maybe on some level. But my condolences to you because, you know,
Starting point is 00:48:42 Gord Downie wasn't just the lead singer of the Tragically Hip, but you guys were very close, and I'm just sorry for your loss, man. Oh, thanks very much. Yep, thanks. I'd never been through that before. My mother passed away since, but when Gord died, I knew he was going to die. We all did.
Starting point is 00:49:02 Yeah, it was just, I hadn't really even been through that before. And, you know, honestly, the band took basically a year and a half from even talking to each other. We didn't do what you probably should do is go, you know, to a counselor or something. We all went through our grief in different ways and individually and then eventually we found our way back to each other well everybody you know grieves differently that's one thing for sure so there's no one size fits all there but you found your way back well thanks a
Starting point is 00:49:36 lot mike thanks for uh even mentioning that buffalo boy wants to know is uh paul you're gonna with your band are you gonna visit buffalo well yeah ideally yeah you know there's complications with um work visas and that kind of stuff but uh no buffalo is close to my heart why because they were uh as supportive a city as we could ever come across the hip and um and so i would love to play buffalo we're kind of just playing a couple festivals this summer a few and uh we got maybe three or four more and then we'll just see what happens you know it's it's um i don't have a need to really get out on the road but greg would happily be on the road for the rest of my life. Let's do it for Greg.
Starting point is 00:50:28 Do it for Greg. That would be nice. We'd like to. You had a good experience of Don Smith, right? This was a positive experience. Oh yeah, he was great. I just watched a screener copy of a new Lowest of the Low documentary
Starting point is 00:50:43 called The Subversives. I just watched it last week. I'm a big fan of Lowest of the Low documentary called The Subversives. I just watched it last week. I'm a big fan of Lowest of the Low as well. That is out? It's out already. No, it's not out yet. You've got to know people. For you, it might be out, but that'd be a side conversation. No, I just thought that's good to know. I think the premiere, I want to say the premiere is in late
Starting point is 00:51:00 September or something at the Rivoli, and then it'll be somewhere. But anyway, it's just interesting to hear their Don Smith story and how it is so different from your don smith experience they had a because the second uh so the first big album is shakespeare my butt and then they do their second album with don smith and it's it's a horrific experience for the band and you hear him talking about it wrong and everything yeah just terrible i know he's passed away since so we won't you know but i was just just just for the record though the tragically have had a positive experience of don smith oh my god yeah like he made us i think you know like if we hadn't had him as a producer
Starting point is 00:51:34 i think things could have really gone sideways like he really was just like just do what you do, and I'll capture the sound. He was a dude, so, you know, I'm trying to picture what the lowest of low would, what the bad experience was. Well, I can tell you, because he did tell it on my show, and I'm not spoiling the dog, but Don was blatantly racist in the presence of the band members, and it caused a huge friction. This is a story told by, again, Ron Hawkins in my
Starting point is 00:52:08 backyard on Toronto Mike. I'm just quoting him. Another one, okay. On that note. That's good timing. Honestly, that actually shocks me. Afterwards, I'll tell you the quote after we finish recording.
Starting point is 00:52:24 He was a Texas guy that had moved to L.A. And I don't know. I don't think we ever really discussed race. It didn't come up. Not that I know of, no. I think he would have had a serious problem with really all of us or a few of us if it had gone that way and i think we yeah i mean we recorded in memphis and then in new orleans and so it would have uh
Starting point is 00:52:55 been obvious but if they say that hey that's that's uh right that's their thing and i'm sorry to hear that it's a good dog you're gonna dig it actually it's a good dog okay yeah i don't want to watch it anymore he's tapping out brian smith goes this is the tragically hip related question paul's uh sorry your last show that's the yours the tragically hip your last show in london uh the set was cut short according to the set list that was posted the last song played had no drummer what happened with him why was the last song not played on the set list do you know what brian's talking about well i know what the last song was because i wrote the set list last song was little bones and the the song before that you know was our second encore was fiddler's green so we ended it with fiddler's green um you know uh i think this is okay um johnny had an issue he was feeling funny and
Starting point is 00:53:53 faint and so it was like the decision was made okay he's got to leave and then the decision that very good decision was made we're're not playing Little Bones without Johnny. So it was just like, okay, see you later. And he was okay in the end. Good. But he actually did get taken to the hospital and checked out just because he was maybe overheated or I don't know if there was ever a determination,
Starting point is 00:54:20 but it was nothing serious. I'm glad it was nothing serious. Yeah. That's what matters most here. I have a question now, which is one of my favorite Tragically Hip, the Tragically Hip songs
Starting point is 00:54:27 was 38 Years Old. Loved it, but I think it was up to seeing you guys live 11, 12 times. I had never heard you guys play 38 Years Old live. I then finally, though, at Fort York,
Starting point is 00:54:41 I'm at Fort York wearing my Bill Borilco jersey, okay? I have a retro Bill Borilco jersey. I'm at Fort York. I'm at Fort York wearing my Bill Borilco jersey. Okay, I have a retro Bill Borilco jersey. I'm at Fort York and you guys break into 38 years old. So my question is,
Starting point is 00:54:52 is there a specific reason why you guys never seem to play it live? You know, Gord hated it. Well, that's a good reason, actually. That's a good fucking reason. That was the main reason. Gord hated it well that's a good reason actually that's a good that was the main reason
Starting point is 00:55:05 gourd hated it he was just bummed he became bummed uh after a while maybe a year of playing it that he said my older brother mike you know he has a mic yeah my sister got raped and man got killed and and he was just so mad at himself for actually name checking his actual brother mike that he was like he just decided it was a stupid song and he didn't like it and we're like you know there's a lot of people in prison who love it and the crowd really loves it you know you want to do that it took a lot of years to sort of get him to back in a spot where he wanted to play it and he did get there but it just well yeah i saw it i finally saw it yeah i finally saw it at fort york which
Starting point is 00:55:50 was a great show actually and uh i just find the things you remember from shows it's like i'm used to being like gouged for like my my beverages and my food when i have them at concerts like i'm just used to but for some reason at fort y, in the back of the field there, there was like get a drink. I think it was like get a beer and a dog. And it was like five bucks. And I can't tell if I dreamt that or not, but like five bucks for a beer and a dog
Starting point is 00:56:13 at any concert. Right, Greg? That's crazy, right? I'm so hungry right now, actually. Okay. Again, cooking with gas. We're going to get a live performance. Now I'm doing the
Starting point is 00:56:25 math i don't know one of you guys will have to draw straws okay but i have at least two in my freezer right now two frozen lasagnas from palma pasta i'm these are delicious they're big they're delicious and uh courtesy of palma pasta you guys are gonna draw straws maybe you're getting it oh jake's giving it to you jake you guys paul and greg oh i have uh i think jake and i are gonna grow old together you should you know he's a good manager he's a good manager we've only just met and we wouldn't it's not gonna work i uh after working after our uh our first thing at um in toronto the sugar beach sugar beach yeah thing uh jake came up and i was like uh so am i fired and he in Toronto, the Sugar Beach. Sugar Beach. Yeah. Thing, Jake came up and I was like,
Starting point is 00:57:06 so am I fired? And he was like, not yet. He was lost in your eyes. Okay, that's what's going there. All right, so we already had the great beer.
Starting point is 00:57:14 Thank you, Great Lakes. Okay, so I just want to shout out really quickly, recyclemyelectronics.ca. This is the great website from EPRA.
Starting point is 00:57:22 It's funny because Jake is a big tennis guy. Jake plays tennis with Cliff Hacking who is an FOTM from EPRA. It's funny because Jake is a big tennis guy. Jake plays tennis with Cliff Hacking, who is an FOTM from EPRA, and they're behind recyclemyelectronics.ca. If you have any old tech, any old electronics, old devices, don't throw it in the garbage
Starting point is 00:57:36 because those chemicals end up in the landfill. But you can go to recyclemyelectronics.ca and find a safe place that they've accredited near you. Drop it off off it'll get recycled properly that's your margin orders right right there and last but not least shout out to ridley funeral home pillars of this community since 1921 great podcast there from uh from brad jones at ridley funeral home it's called life's undertaking you
Starting point is 00:58:06 guys should subscribe and listen and i get to co-host that show so it's a lot of fun all right final questions here because i don't want anyone to think they sent me questions i didn't get to it uh pj pat says please ask why this is kind of related to that first ep we were talking about people think that you're not giving enough love to that self-titled ep but uh please ask the tragragically Hip why they stopped playing songs off their first release as their career progressed. There are great songs on that EP.
Starting point is 00:58:34 People are angry, Paul. Where is these songs from the EP? No, I know. And, you know, over the years, we talked to a lot of fans, you know, because we always talked to them after the show, and we heard that a lot and you know the only answer is we just didn't want to play them i mean i don't know why it was just kind of
Starting point is 00:58:52 like uh we felt like our career started our our recording career started with up to here and we were wrong we were wrong because highway girl i mean there's a lot of good songs on there i'm a werewolf baby you know but i got sick of doing that one because gordon attacking me all the time like there were just various reasons um to not do those songs so um yeah so you know we we just didn't do it uh would you take a moment before you get into your jam there would you take a moment maybe and say something about Danny Graves I know I'm calling this guy out of the blue here but I understand you guys are pretty tight and I will say that
Starting point is 00:59:36 Danny Graves drove all the way to Great Lakes Brewery in Southern Etobicoke to sing acoustic for FOTMs who had gathered for TMLX I I think that was TMLX 10. And he's an absolute sweetheart, and he's so good to the show. He's been on multiple times, and I'm a big Danny Graves fan. But are you guys still tight? Yeah, Greg and I just played with him at the workshop section of Mariposa. So we played.
Starting point is 01:00:02 The Paul Anglois band played Saturday night, and then the next day greg um thankfully stuck around and um we played a few songs and and danny got up and uh sang uh bob cajun yes with us and uh he's great sweetheart played it played harmonica harp and and uh just beautiful and obviously he's he's a very sweet singer and a very sweet person. Well, there's an idea. We do a one-off show with Danny Graves singing with the surviving members of the Tragically Hip. Yeah, you know, I mean, he'd certainly be a candidate, but we're not doing that right now.
Starting point is 01:00:39 Never say never. Never say never. Once a wise man once told me, never say never. How's your golf game before we get to your jam? How's your golf game going? It's, you know, not too good. But it's fine. It's fine.
Starting point is 01:00:51 I don't really care about it. I like to get out. I'm not getting out much. But, you know, here and there, once every week or two. And so that's good. And you know what? I wanted to say one more thing. Of course.
Starting point is 01:01:05 Mike, I've done a couple interviews for this record and i haven't mentioned adam casper who mixed this record okay massive favor he he produced in between evolution he's a seattle guy so if you ever pearl jam maybe pearl jam foo fighters i know this name sound garden he is a dude a dude upon a dude like he is and he's so chill and he's so nice and we just happened to because adam casper was in the top of my contacts so i just happened to as we were about to record a month later i just saw his name and i thought oh i'm going to email him and i paid him a bunch of money to mix hugh dylan's record that his first solo record that i produced right and um so i thought hey you know and so i emailed
Starting point is 01:02:00 him hey you bastard you remember i paid you all this money? And just kidding. And he got back, and he's like, oh, my God, you know, I hope you made your money back. And anyway, we started talking, and he's like, I'll mix your record. I said I was going to the studio. He said, I'll do it. And I'm like, ah. And anyway, he was like, no, I'll do it, and I'm not going to, you know, he could charge.
Starting point is 01:02:24 No invoice? Yeah, he could charge so much. Anyway, he really, I worked very closely with him after we recorded, and he was so, besides being so generous, he's just so good, and he mixed this record. It's kind of like exciting, right, Greg? Adam Casper mixed this record. it's a big fucking deal it's a big big deal did you just do this work are we on the radio this is not radio did you think you
Starting point is 01:02:54 were on i'm not gonna start jake i'm not i i just got the look he doesn't care if you swear he's kind of anyway it is a big fucking deal it's a a big fucking deal. And I just want to say that. I just want to say that. Adam Casper, that is a big, and that's a name I know. I'm a big Pro Jam fan too. And I know this name.
Starting point is 01:03:10 This is a big fucking deal. He's great. And he's so chill. And he actually did, there's two songs on your favorites of the hip. No Threat and the New Maybe, which were kind of additional new songs. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:03:23 And he came to bath and recorded it and it was winter and he's like oh my god it's like as we were reminiscing about it and he's like it's like frozen tundra out there you know and we took him on the lake on the frozen lake and stuff anyway he was he's a super dude okay good to hear i think glad you shedded him out this is the moment here because i just saw the clock and I'm a good producer. I saw Jake and I said, oh, I promised him we wouldn't take forever here. So, you can set it up. I don't
Starting point is 01:03:52 know. Do we need another mic? I don't even know. Are we okay? I don't think so. I just might aim this down a little bit. Go nuts. A little bit, yeah. Because I could get another mic if you wanted. No, because I'll aim it down a bit and I'll sing down here. Okay, so this is a song on our new record,
Starting point is 01:04:12 Paul Langlois Band, Guess What, is the name of the record. The song's called I Feel Real Yo. You hold on You hold on to yourself There's nothing wrong You're in between They'll come and pass like water Through the seams of their cries And the damage to your mind
Starting point is 01:05:00 You'll let them get away Cause you don't want them to stay I'll take you to the garden light Take you to the riverside And play me something warm and bright Through the night So I can feel like you see me, like I'm real You hold on, keep holding on to yourself
Starting point is 01:05:41 There's nothing wrong wrong you're in between the common past life through the scene of their cries and the damage to your mind you'll let them get away
Starting point is 01:05:59 cause you don't want them to stay I'll take you to the garden lights And take you to the riverside And play me something warm and bright Through the night So I can feel like you see me Like I'm real
Starting point is 01:06:26 Sometimes I get the feeling Like I'm falling down Try to resist and let go But it just hangs around Sometimes it doesn't work out Just on my own And I can't do it alone So you hold on
Starting point is 01:06:52 Holding on to yourself There's nothing wrong You're just in between They'll come and pass like water Through the seams Amazing. Oh my, I can cross this off my bucket list here. Get a member of the Tragically Hip to play live in my basement.
Starting point is 01:07:17 Paul, that was incredible. Greg, you were great. Oh, thanks. Loved it so much. Amazing. Okay. What's next for you guys? Like, I know you did breakfast television
Starting point is 01:07:26 and then you came here and what's that like like is this the new the new world we live in now where it's like okay we got to do breakfast television then we got to get to toronto mike's basement i think that's really cool you're here man well as uh as greg's wife uh zoe said to me a couple of days ago, she's like, you got to do that stuff. Because I was complaining about having to do interviews and stuff because records came out Friday. She's like, you're not going to have the opportunity, like at the end of July, to have all this stuff. The record's coming out now. You have to do what you have to do. Because I was complaining I had to arrive at breakfast television at 6 a.m. this stuff. The record's coming out now. You have to do what you have to do. Because I was complaining
Starting point is 01:08:05 I had to arrive at breakfast television at 6 a.m. this morning. And I considered staying up. But I didn't. Really good thing you didn't. Are you sure you didn't? Because you guys did crack open a Great Lakes beer at 9.38. No, I forced myself to bed at 1.30.
Starting point is 01:08:23 But Zoe said, and I like it, and Jake would say it too, anyone would say it, it's like you only have the opportunity of the release is where you have to sort of anything you can get. And that's not why I'm here, Mike, because this was overdue, our interview here, okay? I really appreciate you being here. So I'm not considering this like a release interview. This is just something that we know and twisted your arm so to not at all but i have to take advantage of any opportunity so this is going to last a few days then we're going to play some shows and then
Starting point is 01:08:57 we'll see what happens you know hopefully people out there like it and hopefully we have uh you know people that want to see us play and we'll see what happens. But I don't care much. I know you don't care except you should be at least aware that it's a great album and I'm glad you're still making music.
Starting point is 01:09:18 Man, in order of appreciation, not in any particular order, but I do want to thank Greg Ball for being here. You played live. Thank you very much, Mike. Yay, Greg. You earned your palma pasta lasagna. I got to drive back to Kingston. I think I'm going to leave it.
Starting point is 01:09:32 You should eat it. Oh, well, I got four kids, man. I always need food, so for sure. And Jake Gold, got to shout out the great FOTM Jake Gold. Always a pleasure. I love talking to Jake, and thank you, Jake. I'm waving to Jake right now and of course Paul Angois
Starting point is 01:09:49 making his Toronto Mike debut it was just incredible for me and I hope you enjoyed it as well it was fun Mike you do a great job and that brings us to the end of our 1292nd is that right?
Starting point is 01:10:07 Yes, 92nd episode. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Paul, you're like Paul at Paul Langlois 101, I want to say. Does that sound familiar to you? Yep, that's my Twitter account. Yeah, which I've been locked out. I haven't brought that up, but yeah, I'm locked out of it.
Starting point is 01:10:23 Well, I used to know somebody, but I don't know anyone anymore, so I haven't brought that up. But yeah, I'm locked out of it. Well, I used to know somebody, but I don't know anyone anymore. So I can't help you anymore. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. You thought rural was tough to say. I can't say brewery, but okay. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.
Starting point is 01:10:37 Getting Hip to the Hip is at Getting Hip Pod. Again, that's a Tragically Hip cover band and more. Everybody should come out and join me at that event, gettinghiptothehip.com. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. The Moment Lab are at The Moment Lab.
Starting point is 01:10:53 And Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. See you all later this week when my special guest is, check's calendar, Robert Priest. See you then. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow won't be today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is rosy and gray.

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